Client Spotlight: UCLA Health

Whether progress in treatments or the way information is archived and accessed, healthcare shifts along with the needs of the patients and caregivers alike. It’s the reason why Virgie Mosley, operations manager of the Office of Patient Experience at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and her team at UCLA Health are able to address challenges as well as opportunities more effectively through MOVERS, which pushes for reporting by removing grey areas and putting the onus on each person involved in the giving and the receiving of care.

Meet Virgie Mosley and MOVERS
With 30 years of experience in healthcare, Virgie has been an advocate of improvements in the caregiving environment for all involved. Her passion lies in seeing healthcare from the patient’s perspective which she teaches to her colleagues at UCLA Health and the promotion of workplace safety.

In all of her years of experience, no other campaign has been as effective as MOVERS, focusing on a culture of safety. MOVERS is an acronym for:

Reducing risk-adjusted Mortality

Improving process and Outcomes measures

Implementing Value-based redesign within health system

Enhancing the patient experience

Reducing preventable patient readmission

Strengthening patient safety

Involving everyone in the process from admission to discharge is important for the program’s success. “All people will be involved in healthcare, be it the caregivers or their loved ones,” she says, emphasizing her field’s universality. It’s from the point of empathy that caregivers should address the needs of patients. She reminds her colleagues of this approach with a sympathetic ear. It is with this effort that the quality of care takes on the center stage.

MOVERS’ different concrete goals and their respective teams help make the campaign more prominent and successful. Because each team is responsible for their own key performance metrics, focusing is easier and reported concerns are addressed appropriately. The non-punitive aspect of reporting makes room for transparency that has left everyone in a grey area in recent past. Now, any near-misses are reported, celebrated, and shared with the encouraging words: “We need to do better.” And they all agree.

Done in the UCLA Way (involving continuous quality improvement, LEAN methodology and focusing on a culture of safety), the implementation of the MOVERS campaign continues to evolve and excite all stakeholders involved including caregivers, patients and their families.

Reporting: how does it affect patients?
The shift in this new culture of safety is because of the effectiveness of reporting and resolving any challenge that may present itself during the patient’s care. “The staff members feel better and the patients are well taken care of. They feel they’re providing the best care they can,” Ms. Mosley shares with delight. When staff members report any potential hazards, it’s escalated to the right people who can address it and make decisions to reduce risks. Hesitation takes the back seat when these victories are applauded in monthly meetings and rightly so. It makes the process safer for themselves and their patients.

Virgie shares a story from two years ago. A patient complained about one particular service that’s usually contracted to an outside party. Due to the private nature of the story, Virgie shares as much as she can. A flag was raised when the same grievance was reported for a second time. All stakeholders were put in the room, including the vendor. It was a difficult situation which heightened the tension between UCLA Health and the vendor. However, everyone knew that it should be addressed no matter how difficult. As a result, a Root Cause Analysis was done. This allowed everyone to be on the same page. Ultimately, the vendor took it upon themselves to change their management, communications with their client and their respective patients. It resulted in a complete overhaul of management and communications on the vendor’s end. Emotions in the room were strong and instilled the thought: “let’s roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can make this safer and better.” The issue was resolved and measures were taken to prevent it from happening again. Virgie is proud of the outcome. It was a sense of relief when all was said and done.

Workplace violence in California
The affordability of care and insurance coverage are contributing factors to frustration that could lead to workplace violence. Sadly, the healthcare provider is caught in the middle. “Patients come with certain expectations how their care should look like,” Virgie shares firmly. Even more frustrating is when a patient realizes that their coverage is not enough to afford them the best options for themselves or their loved ones. The frustration can then translate to events where safety of the staff is compromised. “It’s a sad state of affairs,” Virgie says, but there’s hope.

Opportunities and the future of care
Patient satisfaction data is collected to help optimize healthcare and the way it’s delivered. It’s taken seriously and acted on as necessary by those who can make the call. Electronic health records are also evolving to record information that may be relevant in the near future. Ms. Mosley continues: “Technology can be our best friend. It gets you to go where you want to go much faster.”

Technology aside, Virgie can’t help but go back to the basics of healthcare which involves compassion and communication with patients. She believes that dialogue between patient and provider is a catalyst to improvement in care, workplace safety, and overall health of all involved. Reporting points of improvement and near-misses is an important part of being a caregiver who champions safety. In Virgie’s words: “The more we report, the safer it will be for our patients.” The future looks bright from here.

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